Chapter 6 - Mission Unknown

“Shino.” Neji frowned as he heard his beloved wife breath another's man name in her sleep.

It means nothing, is something he would have thought if this had only occurred once. Shino was her friend and people were bound to dream about people they knew. Neji was guilty of it himself. But what bothered him so greatly about hearing the bug user's name was that this was the fourth night in a row.

Neji took a deep breath before letting it out slowly as he continued to watch his wife sleep. His suspicion, he knew was unfounded. He knew with everything he had that Tenten loved him. . . but, doubt had dug itself deeply into his mind.

He had been right about the argument they had several weeks ago. He no longer cared about the interworkings of his family or their opinions. So all the pressure they were trying to place upon him to have a child of his own didn't bother him in the least. But Tenten's face, every time she had to tell him that she wasn't pregnant, broke a part of him that he didn't realize existed before.

Hinata's party, he didn't want to go to for the simple fact that he didn't want see Tenten attach herself to baby Iruka and watch her as she longed for one of her own. Neji couldn't help but wonder what he would become to her if he could not succeeded in giving her a child. Would she eventually grow tired of him and leave him for someone who could?

He wanted to think that she wouldn't, but seeing her happy was the only thing that really mattered to him. So he knew if that dreadful day ever came, he would step aside and dissolve their marriage without protest, but until then, he would fight tooth and nail until they had a child of their own.

Hyuuga Neji then threw back his sheets and rose out of bed. He then carefully readjusted the sheets over Tenten's shoulders before getting ready for the day. He was already in the kitchen preparing breakfast when Tenten made her way over to the counter. “Well, this is new,” she said with a smile, as it was usually her out and about before Neji in the morning. “And you're cooking?” she asked in a teasing tone.

“I do know how,” Neji stated as he beat batter for pancakes. “I was hoping you would skip your meeting with Hinata and Aburame today,” he asked of her as he turned away so that he could the pour batter into a skillet.

“Oh?” Tenten walked around the counter so that she was closer to Neji. She then rested her hands on the edge as she leaned against it. “Any particular reason why?” she asked.

Neji smiled as he placed the glass bowl on the counter before turning to Tenten and wrapping his arms around her. “I was hoping we could pick up were we left off last night before we were rudely interrupted,” he told her, leaning in so that he could place kisses upon her.

Tenten's brow slightly furrowed as her hand came up to his arm, rubbing were the his ANBU mark was located underneath his clothing. “You seemed a little upset last night when your mission scroll came in. So when do you need to meet with the Hokage?” she asked.

“Not until noon,” he informed her, not once straying from his task.

“Do you suspect you'll be gone long?” The question was innocent, but hearing it caused Neji to slightly back up.

“Why? Do you have something planned in my absence?” he couldn't help the accusatory tone that entered his voice with the question, but Tenten seemed to miss it altogether.

“No.” She shook her head as she smiled. “I was just wondering if it would interfere with something you might have planned coming up.”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Neji told her honestly as he went to flip the pancakes over.

Tenten rolled her eyes, her smile still bright. “Sure you don't,” she said as she quickly kissed his cheek before going over to wash her hands so that she could help him make breakfast. Tenten was in the middle of adding Neji's medication to his portion when there came a knock at the door.

Neji gave Tenten a small gesture telling her to continue before he went to see who their visitor could be. At the door Neji found a Postal Nin standing in front of him. "Yes?"

The Postal Nin pulled out a package as he spoke. "I'm looking for a Hyuuga Tenten," he informed the other man.

"I'll take it. I'm her husband." Neji reached out for the package only to have it pulled away before he could reach it.

"I was instructed to give this to her personally," he had taken a tone with Neji, that he never would have, if he had known who the white eyed man was.

"Neji, who's at the door?" Tenten asked as she came out the kitchen. "Oh." Her eyes went a bit wide as the Postal Nin came into her view. She then walked towards the two men as she gave a small awkward smile that had not gone unnoticed by her husband. "Did something come for you, Neji?"

"Actually, it's for you," he told her as he stepped out of the way.

The Postal Nin then handed the package to its rightful owner, giving Tenten a small nod as he did so, causing the tension from her face to slip away as Neji heard her whisper, “Thank you.”

Neji closed the door as Tenten opened her package. Inside was a scroll, which she immediately read. Tenten's hand covered her mouth as her eyebrows came closer together. It was only after a minute that Neji realized that Tenten was no longer reading the scroll, but simply staring at it, as if not believing what was on the page. “Who is it from?” he finally asked, surrendering to his curiosity.

Tenten's head snapped up, looking at Neji as if she had forgotten he was in the room with her. “Uh,” she began nervously as she rolled the the paper back around the spool and held it behind her back. “It's from a former client of mine. From that three month long mission I took last year, remember?” Neji nodded. “It's just an update about their situation.”

Neji crossed his arms and leaned against the back of the couch. “From your expression, I assume all is not well.”

Tenten sighed. “No, that's not it. All is well, it's just. . .” she trailed off, a look of concern on her face. “Neji. . . I'm going to have to take a rain check on breakfast, there's something I have to take care of,” she told him.

“Are you telling me, you need to leave the village?” he asked.

“No, nothing like that,” she shook her head quickly. She then stepped over to him and gently kissed his lips. “I'll be back in a hour or so,” she let him know with a smile before leaving their home.

Neji's brow furrowed, something didn't feel right about what she had just told him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Then as Neji made his way back to the kitchen it struck him like a bolt of lightening. “She lied to me,” he said out loud as he swiftly turned back towards the front door. Then before he knew it, he was out the door, tracking his own wife.

Neji had to keep his distance. Tenten had an uncanny ability of sensing those who were following her and so had to activate his blood line limit to make sure that he didn't get too close. He followed her to one of the training grounds within their village, where Neji was surprised to find the Postal Nin waiting for her.

He watched as Tenten held tightly the scroll she had received before the Postal Nin handed her a pencil. She then unrolled the scroll and held it up against a nearby tree and proceeded to write something down. “Phase Seven: Incomplete,” Neji read out loud the very short message, before it was rolled back up and sealed by the Postal Nin, who then disappeared into the trees above.

A moment later, Tenten roughly collapsed onto her knees. Neji's first instinct was to go to her, but he fought to hold himself back as not to alarm her that he had followed her, but he soon lost that fight as his need to know if she was alright grew strong. So with all the stealth he possessed he made his way closer, deactivating his blood line limit in the process. Neji stopped dead in his tracks when he finally noticed Tenten's bobbing shoulders. . . she was crying.

Neji then began to wonder, what in the letter she had received could have upset her so much. And as he watched the tears run down her cheeks, he wanted nothing more than to comfort her. He was about to reveal his hiding place to do just that when he suddenly took a sharp intake of air. Emerging from the trees, stood Aburame Shino. He then silently made his way over to Tenten before sitting down. Tenten's downward head snapped up as she realized someone was there with her and immediately began to wipe away her tears. Neji was not close enough to hear her words.

Then, after what appeared to be small conversation between the two, Tenten threw her arms around Shino and began to cry again. Shino appeared surprised by the gesture, and looked almost like he was about to push her away, but then as his hands came into position on her waist, he found he couldn't. Shino then wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. Neji's face was impassive as his eyes took in the scene before him. His shoulders slightly fell before he turned around and headed in the opposite direction.



Tenten was home within the hour. She found Neji in the living room polishing his hand knives. “Keeping busy?” she asked as she took a sit beside him. Neji said nothing as he continued his task. Tenten smiled as she moved in closer to him. She then lifted her hand and tucked his long dark hair behind his ear. “Did you eat?” she asked, but still received no answer, but she didn't seem to mind. She was used to her husband's standoffish ways.

Neji ignored her as she placed seductive little kisses along his jawline as her hand found his thigh and began to move up. “Put this down,” she told him, when she got tired of being ignored, as she reached for the kunai in his hand, which he easily relinquished. “And kiss me.” Tenten placed the weapon on the table, before taking a hold of Neji's face and turning him towards her.

Neji sighed as they made eye contact before Tenten leaned in to capture his lips, but before she could, Neji slightly pulled away. “No,” he told her. “I didn't,” Tenten looked confused, but then realized he was telling her that he hadn't eaten, meaning he hadn't taken the first dose of his medication.

Tenten slowly pulled away before she stood and walked over to the kitchen door, which she then slide open. Everything was exactly where she had left it nearly an hour ago. “I don't understand, Neji,” she began with her back to him. “I mean, is there something I'm just not getting?” she turned around to face him. He had been acting so strangely towards her lately. She then slightly shook her head as she placed her hand on her chest. “Do you not want a child as badly as I do?”

“I do,” he confirmed.

“Then is it me?” she asked, hesitating as she took a step towards him. “Do you not want a child with me?” She rested on her knees beside him on the floor and placed her hands, one on top of the other, on his knee. “Am I not a worthy enough woman to give you a Hyuuga heir?” she voiced a long thought fear as she waited for his answer.

“I want a child more than anything, Tenten,” he made clear. “But not with you,” Tenten's eyes grew wide with the words, “if you are not faithful.” Neji had already promised himself, if she wanted someone else that he would let her go, but that didn't mean he would make it easy.

Tenten frantically searched his eyes. “Not faithful?” she questioned. “Neji, I have always been true to you.”

“I went to the Hyuuga manor today,” he stated suddenly.

Though she tried to hide it, a strange expression filtered onto Tenten's face as she removed her hands from Neji's knee. “Oh?” was all she could manage to say.

“Hinata-sama tells me she hasn't been to the tea house in quite awhile,” he began. “That it has only been you and Aburame in the mornings.”

“It's only tea, Neji,” was her excuse. “Nothing more, honest.”

Neji then leaned towards her and gently took her face in his hand. “You lying to me about who you are meeting, is not nothing," he pointed out. "You calling out his name in the middle of the night, is not what I would call nothing," he seemed especially angry at that fact as he pulled his hand away. "And you, just this very morning, embracing him as if he were your lover, is more than nothing.”

Tenten's eyes filled with fear. “You- you followed me?” she asked. “How much did you see?” she asked quickly.

“That question alone plagues my mind in doubt,” he told her frowning. “Know now, I will not tolerate an unfaithful wife.”

Tenten slowly took in what she was being told. Her face of fear turning into one of anger. “You bastard!” she hissed. “You speak as if I am something replaceable. I have been a good wife, Neji. I keep our home, tend to your every need, and have put up with your impossible demeanor,” she informed him. “The only man I have ever laid beside is you,” she made clear. “And for you to think otherwise,” she slightly shook her head, her voice softening, “I don't know. . . but it hurts,” she admitted as she wrapped her arms around herself.

The Hyuuga looked over the woman before him and then stood. “So you are not sleeping with-”

“No!” she exclaimed before he could even finish the question. “He is only a friend,” she reassured him.

Neji slightly rose his head. “Fine.” He then side stepped her before entering the kitchen.

Tenten scoffed before she followed him. “Fine?” she questioned. “Is that all you have to say to me?”

“What else would you have me say?” Neji asked as he poured the beaten eggs, Tenten had been preparing, into the sink as they had been sitting out too long.

“How about saying you're sorry? I mean, you followed me when you had no right to and then accused me of adultery.” She marched over and stood on the other side of the island counter. “I want to hear you say you were wrong and that you trust me.”

Neji then faced her. “I will not,” he told her, which surprised Tenten. “My reasons were valid.”

“That's not the point!” she yelled. “You were wrong!”

The two then stared defiantly at each other before Neji sighed silently. “Forgive me,” he gave her a small bow as he spoke. “I did not mean to upset you.”

Tenten sat down looking at her husband in disbelief as he went to throw away the cold pancakes that had been cooked earlier so he could start a new batch. “Are you still hungry?” he asked as if they had not just had an argument.

“Starving,” Tenten confessed somberly.

To Be Continued. . .

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